SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 | 7A
Prevention from page 1A
NO
According to SAVE, nearly
800,000 people die by suicide
worldwide, which is about one
self-inflicted death every 40
seconds.
SAVE also reports that
while women do take their
own lives, nearly 80 percent
of successful suicide attempts
are made by men, the majority
which are through self-inflict-
ed gunshots.
Closer to home, Florence
has experienced a number of
high-profile suicides in the
past year, including the unex-
pected death of a well-regard-
ed and admired instructor in
the Siuslaw School District,
which has elevated the public
discussion surrounding sui-
cide locally.
There has also been an in-
creased focus in schools and
workplaces on identifying
those individuals who may be
at risk of suicide, along with a
number of initiatives that have
been undertaken to facilitate
that effort.
One of those initiatives is
being headed up by Dr. Beth-
any Howe, who will be pre-
senting a suicide prevention
training seminar Tuesday, Feb.
25, at The Beachcomber Pub
in Florence’s Historic Old dis-
trict.
“We are presenting ‘Ques-
tion, Persuade, Refer’ (QPR)
suicide prevention training,
which is a two-hour course
that teaches people how to
recognize people in their lives
who may be at risk, and how to
talk to those people to best get
them help,” Howe said. “Sui-
cide, as a preventable cause of
death, has received a lot more
attention in the last few years,
INATE US
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F
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BEST O
F LO E N C
R
which is good. What I’m not
sure many people know, how-
ever, is the group that’s at the
greatest risk are middle-aged
males.”
Howe said there are a lot
of reasons for this, including
sociological, environmental,
financial and cultural.
“They are reasons that
seem so large that people of-
ten think ‘What can I possibly
do?’” Howe said. “Given the
stigma that often surrounds
even just talking about suicide,
most people are missing one
of the greatest tools they have
for suicide prevention: them-
selves.”
Howe explained that Lane
County has one of the highest
suicide rates in the state. In
any given year, almost as many
people die by suicide locally as
in Multnomah County, which
includes the City of Portland.
“Put simply, those of us in
Lane County are losing our
friends and family to suicide,”
Howe said. “As a group of
volunteers, the Lane County
Suicide Prevention Council is
trying to prevent that outcome
wherever we can.”
Using a grant from Lane
County, Howe said the pro-
gram is hoping to eliminate
the stigma of that conversa-
tion, “from Oakridge to Flor-
ence, Junction City to Cottage
Grove by working with as
many people as we can.”
The QPR Suicide Preven-
tion Training will touch on
different aspects of the suicide
issue, including suicide trends
in Lane County, warning signs
of suicide, intervention strate-
gies and community resources
available to assist in this en-
deavor.
Another attempt at rais-
ing the public profile of the
suicide problem has been
taken by Oregon’s U.S. Sen.
Ron Wyden, who is current-
ly co-sponsoring bi-partisan
legislation called the National
Suicide Hotline Designation
Act, which would establish a
nationwide emergency num-
ber for suicide prevention and
a mental health crisis hotline.
“Suicide is a public health
crisis and requires this urgent
step of building upon the suc-
cessful use of a recognized
three-digit 9-1-1 number for
emergencies,” Wyden said
about his motivation for intro-
ducing the proposed legisla-
tion. “Designating a three-dig-
it 9-8-8 number for people in
a mental health crisis or who
are thinking about suicide is
a crucial piece of the targeted
response that’s needed to save
lives in Oregon and nation-
wide.”
In addition to directing the
creation of 9-8-8 for the Na-
tional Suicide Prevention Life-
line, the bill would include the
Veterans Crisis Line — 1-800-
273-8255, press 1, and www.
veteranscrisisline.net — for
veteran-specific mental health
support and authorize states to
collect fees to ensure local call
centers can support increased
volume.
Howe’s workshop at the
Beachcomber is going to offer
a series of steps that individu-
als can take to identify — or
even prevent — someone they
know from attempting suicide,
with a somewhat different tar-
get audience in mind.
“I decided to approach these
trainings different from train-
ings we’ve done in the past,”
Howe explained. “I wanted to
get out of the schools, hospi-
tals, fire houses, etc. Not that
those aren’t fantastic places
for these types of trainings;
they are. But they also tend
to attract the same subset of
people. We want to reach the
people we haven’t yet reached.”
To do that, Howe said the
program needs to go some-
where different.
“We’re discussing some-
thing which is serious and, in
many ways, uncomfortable
— so I wanted to conduct the
trainings in places people feel
comfortable,” said Howe. “The
Beachcomber is that kind of
place, and I am tremendously
grateful for their willingness to
host this training.”
To pre-register for the
free Feb. 25 “Question, Per-
suade, Refer’ suicide preven-
tion training, visit https://bit.
ly/37kTXwK.
People can also visit
preventionlane.org for more
information.
Floodplain from page 1A
The local update of Flor-
ence’s flood plain maps was
prompted by larger scale Fed-
eral Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) and Lane
County projects to update all
of the flood plain maps for
this area. This was done using
data and information gath-
ered from satellites to plot
potential flood locations with
much greater accuracy.
According to Lane County,
there are nearly 140,000 acres
of land in the county flood-
plain. This is equivalent to
200 square miles of potential-
ly impacted land. Over 11,000
individual property parcels
are partially or entirely locat-
ed within this floodplain area.
In fact, Lane County has
more river miles of floodplain
than any other county in the
state. Ongoing development
along these rivers continues
to displace natural areas that
have historically functioned
to store flood waters. These
changes increase instances of
local flooding dramatically.
In order to meet approach-
ing FEMA deadlines for
submission of floodplain
updates, FarleyCampbell re-
quested the commission ap-
prove PC 20 01 IN 01, “New
National Flood Insurance
Program FIS/FIRM Amend-
ments Initiation.”
These updates are primar-
ily designed to allow those
living in flood-prone areas to
obtain flood insurance from
the National Flood Insurance
Program at a reasonable cost,
according to FarleyCampbell.
of community members as
it is possible a property may
have been determined to be
at greater, or lesser, risk of
flooding.
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TOP
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Women
DEBBIE HARING 3.13%
LISA MELAINE DALLAS 2.46% MIKA HUTCHINSON 2.38%
GUADALUPE GALVAN 2.35%
CASSANDRA SOUTHER 2.28%
MATT DANIELSSON 4.80%
JAMES MCKINNEY 2.51%
ED  WASCO 2.04%
DAMION FOX 1.18%
TOP
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Men
Contestant
Name
Weekly
% Lost
Season
%Lost
WOMEN’S RESULTS
Debbie Haring
Lisa Melaine Dallas
Mika Hutchinson
Guadalupe Galvan
Cassandra Souther
Kasey Keppol
Vickie Hunt
Debra Kaiser
Katryn Cooper
Sherri Mackey
Darlynne Acosta
Gina Lovato
Lori Coffindaffer
Nancy Robinson
Sue Lindelof
Mary Wendling
3.13%
2.46%
2.38%
2.35%
2.28%
1.92%
1.85%
1.67%
1.60%
1.56%
1.50%
1.28%
1.22%
1.12%
1.12%
1.06%
OVER
4.81%
4.80%
4.48%
5.61%
2.72%
4.14%
5.82%
4.42%
4.42%
1.17%
2.56%
1.28%
3.04%
2.25%
0.53%
0.58%
Samantha Milbrett
Betty Scarbrough
Angie Burns
Alyssa Cargill
Andrea Kramer
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Linda Crowell
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Patricia Ann Timothy
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Margaret Free
Katherine Hemmens
Ava Analco
Vida Hanks
Sonia Muños
$1,000 IN
PRIZES & GIFTS
14-WEEK
CONTEST
February 1 – May 9, 2020
•Weigh in each week at Coastal Fitness & Aquatics
•2285 Hwy. 101, Florence, each Wednesday,
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•Weekly leaders in each category (male & female) will be pictured in the
Saturday edition of the Siuslaw News.
•Look Good - Feel Good!
Contestants understand that participation in the contest may involve inher-
ent risks, dangers and hazards, which many occur without warning, or be
due to lack of conditioning, carelessness, and other unforeseen, unidenti-
fied, or unexpected perils inherent in physical activities or weight loss pro-
grams. Contestants understand that oversight of the contest by the Siuslaw
News or any other sponsors does not and cannot, guarantee their safety.
Contestants understand that they should not participate in the contest if they have
any health conditions affecting their ability to participate. Contestants have signed
release forms to certify they are fully aware of, and expressly assume these and all
other risks involved in participating in the contest, and to grant to the Siuslaw News
and all contest sponsors and their respective assignees, the absolute right and permis-
sion to use their name, address, photograph and/or likeness in any and all advertising,
trade, or promotion. Contestants have weighed in at the first contest weigh-in on
January 29 and will weigh-in every Wednesday through May 6, 2020 at the Florence
location at Coastal Fitness and Aquatics, 2285 Hwy. 101, Florence.
0.97%
0.96%
0.87%
0.82%
0.81%
0.80%
0.69%
0.66%
0.62%
0.54%
0.50%
0.39%
0.38%
0.32%
0.18%
0.15%
0.13%
0.06%
0.00%
0.00%
0.88%
2.79%
8.07%
2.69%
1.21%
2.79%
4.40%
1.18%
3.03%
1.81%
2.58%
2.27%
1.53%
1.60%
4.81%
2.46%
1.40%
2.89%
2.95%
0.84%
Cassandra Burns
Chelsea Anttila
Betty Blake
Amanda Bryan
Evelyne Carson
Dahawal Moghe
Sheri Ostdiek
Kelty Tobinson
Gina Halpin
Linda Harklerode
Jamie Wilby
Tyrah Forbes
Mimi Teachout
Jo Beaudreau
Sharon Osborn
Bryd Nelson
RON  MOORE 2.27%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
-0.09%
-0.10%
-0.11%
-0.22%
-0.31%
-0.40%
-0.69%
-1.19%
-2.03%
0.77%
0.93%
1.19%
0.61%
0.92%
1.64%
-0.41%
1.50%
1.06%
0.67%
-0.55%
0.63%
1.11%
0.00%
-1.19%
MEN’S RESULTS
Matt Danielsson
James McKinney
4.80%
2.51%
OUNDS LOST TO D
AL P
ATE
TOT
407
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7.49%
5.83%
Ron  Moore
Ed  Wasco
Damion Fox
Mack Wade
Jose Martinez
Tyrell Hunt
Lloyd Little
Daniel Keppol
Franklin Spencer
Tom Kramp
Justin King
Delbert Hanks
Jim Hecker
Kristopher Keppol
Dustin Williams
Brad Koehn
Al Rojas
Bob Weber
Wes Mahling
Skye McCloud
2.27%
2.04%
1.18%
0.97%
0.92%
0.89%
0.75%
0.72%
0.50%
0.49%
0.39%
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
-0.20%
-0.38%
-0.46%
-1.03%
-1.13%
-1.23%
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5.05%
2.52%
4.17%
4.32%
2.59%
4.20%
2.51%
2.86%
4.86%
0.49%
4.87%
1.78%
3.17%
-0.90%
4.66%
2.51%
5.15%
1.72%
1.85%
-1.23%